A Lancashire actor is returning to the silver screen in a brand new zombie apocalypse film that was shot in his red rose county home town.''Actor and martial arts expert Mark Strange stars in action-horror filmRedcon-1, something that he says will put his home town of Leyland 'on the map'.

A Lancaster based writer and film director is launching his new martial arts zombie film with a screening and talks at the city’s Vue Cinema.

Former Lancaster Royal Grammar School pupil Chee Keong Cheung has released REDCON-1, which is due to air in 28 UK cities over the next few weeks.

The film, which is rated 18 and has been several years in the making, will come to Lancaster Vue on October 8, where Chee will be in attendance with some of the cast from the film with a Q&A post screening.

Part of the film was shot at Lancaster Castle, with extras from the city taking part.

Chee, whose family runs the Golden Dragon Chinese restaurant in Lancaster’s Dalton Square, said: “I’m truly excited to have caught the attention of Vue cinemas who are coming on board as a key partner for this unique effort.”

Dean Cross, film content manager, Vue UK & Ireland, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Chee to bring REDCON-1 to a number of our venues across the UK and look forward to welcoming customers to enjoy the film on the big screen.”

Chee Keong Cheung

The synopsis reads: “After a zombie apocalypse spreads from a London prison, the UK is brought to its knees.

“The spread of the virus is temporarily contained but, without a cure, it’s only a matter of time before it breaks its boundaries and the biggest problem of all...any zombies with combat skills are now enhanced.”

Chee added: “Some years ago I wondered what would happen if zombies could retain some of their previous life skills...What if they were combat based?

“And how would a small troop of soldiers survive being sent into the heart of a seething mass of the undead, who don’t just bite...they fight back too.”

REDCON-1

Tickets for the film are available from the Lancaster Vue website.

The film will also be shown at Blackpool Odeon on October 7, and Preston Vue on October 9, followed by a further Lancaster screening on October 18.

It has been produced by Carlos Gallardo, producer of Once Upon A Time in Mexico and Desperado, and Kevin Eastman, who produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

More than 1,500 extras and a mass of military hardware has been used to create the film.

Chee said: “I wanted to build in a roots audience so that cinemas could be confident of people showing up and by the same token ensure that the community we’ve built up could get their big screen experience and indeed that we can meet them again!”

This inbuilt audience has already shown itself as Chee explained, “Reaction to the trailer has been incredible.

“After a brace of top genre sites picked it up we put it out on our Redcon1Film Facebook page recently and within 48 hours with no spend at all - so purely organic reach - we had over 50k views and added another 1k likes to the page.

“It’s an amazing start and really is going to help motivate an enormous push to the release.”